A Legend Was Born Today in 1922

July 17, 1922 – a legend was born. A Tower of Strength. Loyal. Determined. Hard Working. No Nonsense Attitude. THE STRONGEST BRANCH OF OUR TREE.

What she said – she meant – so pay attention.

She took notes during the news – especially the John Marra Home & Garden segments. The radio was always tuned to WJEH at Noon to hear the local news.

She always had a sink of bleach water and clothes on the line. Sweet tea in the fridge. Jack Daniels and Lambrusco under the sink. Banana Bread on the counter. Lady Dog in the yard. The wagon attached to the John Deere mower – which I fell out of breaking my arm.

I can still hear the quiet on a warm Sunday morning with sun beaming in the windows through the branches of the trees. I can also hear the sound the knob made on her bedroom door. The smell of cedar of her closet.

Oh to be little again playing in the backyard with my brother and cousins. Red Merthiolate for the boys when they had cuts and scrapes and white for me. Only after being scrubbed with a bar of Dial soap. She kept a nail brush near the bathroom sink. On the counter, I can still see the container of scented power, a handheld mirror and a comb for her perfect silver hair.

Making homemade peach ice cream and apple butter in the fall. Picking the garden of the fruits of her labor. Stringing beans on the front porch. One pot for the beans and a pot for the strings. If you don’t like strings in your beans – make sure you don’t leave any. She with her Rada knife. Us with our hands.

Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas all decorated for all of us to come and feast on meals perfectly prepared. Red tapered candles lit. The boys played: under the table with their matchbox cars. My Daddy and Uncle Bill just off the kitchen sitting in the addition talking work and planning deer hunting. I can still hear the screen door off the kitchen. So very thankful for my memories and even more thankful she’s mine.

I could go on and on and on about my Grandma Lena Belle. I think of her every single day. The lessons she taught me will live on within me forever and always. I always said that if I had the strength she had in the tip of her pinky finger that I would be alright. I have learned that I do and for that I am so very grateful. The other day, McKenzie and I were talking about my Dad and how he had showed her all day long that he was with her. I said – You’re having a good day aren’t you baby girl? She said – Yes, I am! I told her how proud I am of her and her strength. She said – I learned it from you. It was like the wind was knocked out of me – but in a good way. I didn’t know that she thinks of me that way. Probably like Grandma Lena Belle didn’t think that I saw her that way. But, I did and I still do.

XOXO ~ PGWW